Chuck followed Janelle and Keith through the trees as Chance pressed ahead. The dog’s paws tore into the duff on the forest floor, sending pine needles flying. The smell of must and decay rose from the ground into the damp air.
Peering ahead, Chuck spotted something glinting in the weak afternoon light.
“Ka-ching,” Keith declared.
Chance came upon the rectangular storage case for the satellite phone. The black plastic case, lined with gray foam rubber, lay open on the ground, empty. White plastic shards littered the forest floor beyond the case. A fist-sized rock rested among the plastic pieces.
“The phone,” Keith said, disbelief in his voice. “Somebody smashed it to bits.”
Chance sniffed at the case and phone shards, then looked deeper into the forest. The dog stood in place, trembling. It lowered its head and keened, the mournful sound almost human.
The trunks of trees and the needle-carpeted forest floor stretched as far ahead as Chuck could see.
Keith used the shortened lead to urge Chance forward, but the dog cowered, refusing to move.
“What do you smell, boy?” Keith asked. “What is it?”
He took hold of Chance by the scruff of the dog’s neck and tugged the animal past the phone shards. Chance straightened at Keith’s side.
“Are you ready now, boy?” Keith asked.
Chance answered with a short, sharp bark.
Keith cursed. “It’s a blood trail, all right.”
Chuck studied the floor of the forest. “I don’t see anything.”
“It’s an air scent. That’s what Chance’s bark means. Straight ahead.”
Keith moved beyond the smashed phone, his steps deliberate. Chance advanced with him, pressed to his leg.
Chuck considered digging the .357 from his pack, but there was nothing yet to see—or aim at.
Keith and Chance made their way through the trees, Janelle and Chuck trailing behind. No one spoke. Chance panted, no longer sniffing.
“There!” Keith exclaimed, his voice shaking.
Fifty feet away, a human body lay crumpled at the base of a lodgepole pine. The body, twisted and unmoving, wore brown work jeans and an insulated jacket in a camouflage print.
Sarah.